This invention is directed to point of purchase display and product dispensers. More particularly, an embodiment of this invention involves display dispensers that are adjustable to dispense a variety of shapes and sizes of packaged products.
Point of purchase displays and dispensing devices are an important segment of retail marketing. Free standing dispensers coupled with advertising graphic messages are common sights close to the cashier and scattered throughout most retail stores. These dispensers take a variety of forms and some depend upon a gravity feed to supply a fresh package to replace the packages removed by the consumer or the store clerk. Products that are dispensed in this manner include cigarette packages, audio and video cassette packages, camera film, women""s hosiery, as well as a myriad of other consumer products. It is certainly possible to design a free standing gravity feed dispensing container for a given sized and shaped package. However, a gravity feed dispenser capable of adjustment to dispense a variety of sized and shaped packages is not available.
Prior art devices are described below and include U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,545 to Rainey discloses a typical display and vending apparatus with circa 1960""s type internal chutes and guides as shown in FIGS. 2 and 14. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides or the locking tabs with the grooves to receive graphic displays.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,745 to Prendergast et al. discloses a display and dispensing apparatus with the side and rear walls molded in one piece joined by vertical living corner hinges. Dividers 42, 52, and 62 are rigid and not adjustable. The walls are held in position by sleeve 20. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides or the locking tabs with the grooves, although a sleeve does provide graphic display.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,628 to Glasener discloses a pilfer-proof dispensing apparatus with a non-adjustable ramp and guides, the packages being dispensed from the rear by insertion of a finger by the clerk. Vertical grooves 27 and 28 are provided to receive graphic advertising panels on the front to the device. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides. The patent does teach grooves to receive graphic displays, but they are not in conjunction with and formed by the locking tabs of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,756 to Jaquish discloses a display and dispensing apparatus capable of dispensing various sized and shaped packages using rear spacer 40 that spring clips into positioned slots, and is equipped with knee 42 to aid in dispensing the packages. The dispensing opening is adjustable using plate 30 sliding up and down in channels 26 as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides or the locking tabs of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,999 to Jo discloses an open topped audio cassette displayer and dispensing apparatus that non adjustable, but does include transparent sleeves for display of graphic sheets/cards. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides or the locking tabs of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,573 to Celik discloses a tape cassette gravity fed dispenser molded of plastic. The walls are rigid. This device does not teach or make obvious either the vertical or horizontal hinged guides or the locking tabs of the present invention.
None of these devices disclose a device that satisfies the needs described above and below nor attains the objects of the invention described herein below.
As pointed out above, a variety of point of purchase dispensers are available with graphic displays to alert the consumer that the product is very conveniently available. How ever, a serious problem arises when a change is necessary for the size and/or the shape of the package. The new product packages may not fit into the prior gravity feed dispenser, or they may hang up inside the prior dispenser and block the supply of the packages from the consumer. For example, video cartridges are not only of the VHS size and shape, but also the DVD size and shape. To further complicate the matter, the VHS cartridges are packaged in a variety of containers, including a slip sleeve, clam shell, and capsule containers, and probably others to come. A dispenser for one of these packages may well not perform with different sized package. Many other consumer products, including cigarettes, are marketed in wide variety of package sizes and shapes. It is most desirable to be able to adjust the dispenser to handle without fail a newly sized package. As in a preferred embodiment, it is also most desirable to replace a part of the graphic display without having to change the entire display.
It is an object for an embodiment of the present invention to provide a point of purchase gravity feed dispenser that is adjustable to feed and dispense a variety of sized and shaped packages.
It is an additional object for an embodiment of the present invention to provide a point of purchase gravity feed dispenser for which the height, width and length of the package to be dispensed can be adjusted individually to varying degrees and in any combination.
It is an additional object for a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide a point of purchase gravity feed dispenser that is injection molded out of a pliable plastic, preferably a polyolefin polymer, in one, two or three parts with each side panel and the front panel adapted to receive graphic panels slid into opposing grooves and tabs to cover the respective panel.
It is an additional object for a more preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide a parallelepiped box shaped point of purchase gravity feed dispenser that is injection molded out of a polyolefin plastic in two parts, one part with opposing vertical side panels, a back panel and a bottom panel joined at their adjacent adjoining edges by living hinges, and a second part being a front panel adapted to interlock to the free vertical edges of the side panels forming opposing vertical grooves or tabs along each vertical edge adapted to receive graphic panels slid into the opposing grooves or tabs to cover the front panel.
An embodiment of the invention is a gravity feed packaged product dispenser including a housing with an inner chamber of sufficient size and shape to hold a plurality of packaged products stacked vertically. The housing includes a bottom wall with an inside floor surface, a rear wall with an inside surface, a right side wall with an inside surface, a left side wall with an inside surface, and a front wall with a lower edge. The housing has a front opening extending frontwardly from the inner chamber having a height bounded by the lower edge of the front wall and the inside floor surface. The dispenser also includes at least one side guide device including at least one side guide member capable of extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of a side wall, the member including an outer edge connected to the inside surface of the side wall by a vertical living hinge, and an elongate vertical inner edge extending inwardly disposed to guide a side of packaged products stacked vertically in the housing, and at least one locking means for each side guide member to lock the side guide member at a chosen angle from the inside surface of the side wall. The dispenser also includes a rear guide device including at least one rear guide member capable of extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the rear wall, the member including an outer edge connected to the inside surface of the rear wall by a vertical living hinge, and an elongate vertical inner edge extending inwardly disposed to guide a rear side of packaged products stacked vertically in the housing, and at least one locking means for each rear side guide member to lock the rear guide member at a chosen angle from the inside surface of the rear wall. The dispenser also includes a front opening height control device that includes at least one front opening height control member capable of extending upwardly into the inner chamber from the inside floor surface of the bottom wall, each of the height control members includes an outer edge connected to the inside floor surface of the bottom wall by a horizontal living hinge, and an elongate horizontal inner edge extending upwardly disposed to adjust the height of the front opening and guide a bottom side of the bottom packaged product of the packaged products stacked vertically in the housing, and at least one locking means for each front opening height control member to lock the front opening height control member at a chosen angle from the floor surface of the bottom wall.
It is preferred that there be two side guide devices, one extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the left side wall and one extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the right side wall. It is also preferred that there be two front opening height control members capable of extending upwardly into the inner chamber from the inside floor surface of the bottom wall.
Another embodiment of the invention is a dispenser, preferably a point of purchase gravity feed packaged product dispenser, that includes a housing with an inner chamber of sufficient size and shape to hold a plurality of packaged products stacked vertically, the housing preferably being molded of a plastic polymer having the capability of forming living hinges along chosen opposing joined edges, preferably a polyolefin plastic polymer, the housing including a bottom wall with an inside floor surface, a rear wall with an inside surface, a right wall with an inside surface, a left wall with an inside surface, and a front wall with a lower edge. The housing has a front opening extending frontwardly from the inner chamber and having a height bounded by the lower edge of the front wall and the inside floor surface. The dispenser further includes a right side guide device that includes at least one right side guide member capable of extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the right wall. The guide member includes an outer edge connected to the inside surface of the right wall by vertical living hinge, and an elongate vertical inner edge extending inwardly disposed to guide a right side of packaged products stacked vertically in the housing. The guide device includes at least one locking means for each right side guide member to lock the right side guide member at a chosen angle from the inside surface of the right wall. The dispenser further includes a left side guide device that includes at least one left side guide member capable of extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the left wall. The member includes an outer edge connected to the inside surface of the left wall by vertical living hinge, and an elongate vertical inner edge extending inwardly disposed to guide a left side of packaged products stacked vertically in the housing The left side guide device includes at least one locking means for each left side guide member to lock the left side guide member at a chosen angle from the inside surface of the left wall. The dispenser further includes a rear guide device that includes at least one rear guide member capable of extending inwardly into the inner chamber from the inside surface of the rear wall. The member includes an outer edge connected to the inside surface of the rear wall by vertical living hinge, and an elongate vertical inner edge extending inwardly disposed to guide a rear side of packaged products stacked vertically in the housing. The rear guide device includes at least one locking means for each rear side guide member to lock the rear guide member at a chosen angle from the inside surface of the rear wall. The dispenser further includes a front opening height control device that includes at least two front opening height control members capable of extending upwardly into the inner chamber from the inside floor surface of the bottom wall. Each of the members includes an outer edge connected to the inside floor surface of the bottom wall by horizontal living hinge, and an elongate horizontal inner edge extending upwardly disposed to adjust the height of the front opening and guide a bottom side of the bottom packaged product of the packaged products stacked vertically in the housing. The height control device includes at least one locking means for each front opening height control member to lock the front opening height control member at a chosen angle from the floor surface of the bottom wall.
It is preferred that the housing be a parallelepiped of a pliable plastic polymer, more preferably a polyolefin polymer, in two parts, one part with opposing vertical side panels, a back panel and a bottom panel joined at their adjacent adjoining edges by living hinges, and a second part being a front panel adapted to interlock to the free vertical edges of the side panels forming opposing vertical grooves along each vertical edge of the front panel adapted to receive graphic panels slid into the opposing grooves to cover the front panel. It is also preferred that the housing be a parallelepiped of a polyolefin plastic in two or three parts with one part having living hinges along adjoining vertical edges of adjacent side panels and a back panel, wherein a front panel interlocks along adjoining vertical edges of the adjacent side panels, the bending of the living hinges and the interlocking forming along all of the adjoining vertical edges open ended at the top vertical grooves opening opposing across the face of the front panel adapted to receive graphic panels slid into the opposing grooves to cover the front panel. It is also preferred that the locking means for the right side guide member, the left side guide member, and the rear guide member each include cantilevered spring members having a first end integrally connected to the bottom wall and aligned with the inside floor surface, a length angled upwardly over an opening in the bottom wall and a second unsupported end extending above the inside floor surface adapted to engage a lower edge of the respective guide member and hold it against a stop member extending upwardly from the inside floor surface of the bottom wall. It is further preferred that there be at least two locking means for each right side guide member, left side guide member, and rear guide member, each locking means being positioned to hold and stop the respective guide member at a chosen angle from the respective inside wall. It is preferred that each of the locking means for the front opening height control members include at least one arcuate concave cut out along a portion of the outer edge with at least one notch cut out of an edge of the arcuate cut out, and a locking member that includes a first edge disposed perpendicular to the outer edge of the front opening height control member and connected adjacent to the arcuate concave cut out and to the inside floor surface of the bottom wall by horizontal living hinge, and a second free convex arcuate edge with at least one notch cut out of said edge, the second arcuate edge disposed to engage with the concave arcuate edge with the respective notches interfitting together to fix the front opening height control member at a chosen angle with the inside floor surface. It is more preferred that there be at least two notches on arcuate concave cut out edge of the front opening height control member, and at least two respective notches on second free convex arcuate edge on the locking member, the engagement of the respective pairs of notches enabling the locking of the front opening height control member at at least two angles from the inside floor surface.